Amazon Basics 1 Inch vs Gruper TPE 6mm: Which One Should You Buy?

The Amazon Basics 1 Inch Extra Thick is 25.4 mm of soft NBR foam with a list price of $38.40. The Gruper is 6 mm of TPE, two sheets bonded into one, at $27.99. Stack four Grupers and you would still be a little short of one Amazon Basics. Both are 24″ wide and sold only on Amazon.

We already compare the Gruper with the half-inch Amazon Basics. The full inch pushes every difference on that page further: a fatter roll, more sink under a standing foot, and fewer people who genuinely need that much foam.

A full inch makes sense on bare concrete, for rehab that keeps you kneeling for long stretches, and for knees or a tailbone that ache on thinner padding. Nearly nine in ten of the roughly 1,700 Amazon Basics reviews that mention thickness are positive, though Amazon lumps the half-inch version into that count.

On carpet, a rug or a wood floor with a little give, the Gruper’s quarter inch handles most kneeling, and its reviews that bring up thickness mostly talk about comfortable knees and backs. Between those cases sits the half-inch Amazon Basics at $22.48, which is $5.51 under the Gruper and nearly $16 under the inch. Try that thickness before assuming you need the full one.

The Gruper can give 6 mm under a foot at most, because that is all the mat there is, and TPE springs back. The Amazon Basics has 25.4 mm to give, and soft NBR compresses unevenly from heel to toe, so your ankle is busy correcting for it all through tree pose.

In down dog the heels of your hands sink deeper than your fingertips, and one owner quoted in Amazon’s review summary says the mat stretches and moves during poses. On the Gruper your hands rest on something much closer to the floor.

Lunges split awkwardly. In a low lunge your back knee is happiest on the inch and your front foot is steadier on the Gruper. If you do a lot of them, decide which of the two bothers you more.

Rolled as tightly as it will go, 74 inches of inch-thick foam cannot come out much under ten inches across. The Gruper rolls to about five. That is roughly four times the cross-section, so the Amazon Basics takes about four times the closet space and fits no ordinary mat bag. It weighs 4.6 pounds against 2.6.

Gruper includes a bag as well as a strap, and portability draws praise in nine of every ten reviews that bring it up. The Amazon Basics listing promises a carrying strap, but Amazon’s review summary says some buyers found none in the box, and about three in five of the reviews that mention the strap are negative. Check the carton before you recycle it.

Of the roughly 370 Gruper reviews that mention grip, about two thirds are positive. On the Amazon Basics it runs the other way: slightly more of about 560 are negative, and one owner who uses theirs in a garage calls it very slippery.

The Gruper’s corrugated bottom helps on a smooth floor, and its summary says the mat stays in place. Both faces of the Amazon Basics are the same textured foam, and a full inch of it can shear sideways under a planted hand. Sweat stays on the surface of both, which rules either one out for a heated class.

The inch’s first bullet calls it memory foam and a later one calls it high-density NBR, which is how the half-inch version is described too, so we treat it as NBR. The same listing promises stable and confident yoga poses, which is a lot to ask of a full inch of soft foam.

Gruper’s copy pitches its TPE as a greener, softer step up from PVC and EVA mats. Its spec table gives the weight as 0.75 kg, contradicting its own bullets, so we use the stated 2.6 pounds. GearLab hasn’t tested either one.

Durability is the weak spot in the Amazon Basics reviews. A few more of the roughly 970 that mention it are negative than positive, citing rips, tears when the foam gets stretched, and damage from tennis shoes. Soft NBR also dents for good under the spots you kneel on most.

Gruper’s listing limits the mat to bare feet, flags shoes and pets’ paws as tear risks, and credits the two bonded layers with resisting tears and deformation. Those are Gruper’s words, and its review summary gives no durability tally to set against the Amazon Basics.

Amazon Basics covers the inch for 1 year. Gruper publishes no warranty, leaving Amazon’s return window. Given how many Amazon Basics owners report rips, a year of cover is worth more here than it sounds.

Amazon wants the pad unrolled and left in a ventilated space for 48 hours or more before first use. Both listings say hand wash only, and Gruper adds drying flat and keeping the mat out of long sun. Neither is natural rubber, and the Amazon listing rules out latex, phthalates and heavy metals.

The list prices are $38.40 and $27.99, and both listings price colors separately, so check the Amazon Basics 1 Inch at Amazon and the Gruper at Amazon on the day you buy. Amazon sells the inch in aqua, black or rose; Gruper offers eight colorways at last count, most of them two-tone.

Both brands sell a middle step. Gruper’s listing also carries an 8 mm thickness at 3.1 pounds. Amazon Basics sells this foam at half an inch, and our half inch vs 1 inch page asks whether the second half inch is worth the bulk.

Get the Gruper for yoga, general fitness at home, or anything with standing poses, planks and lunges. It is $10.41 cheaper, rolls to half the diameter with a bag included, and gets better grip reviews. It has no warranty, and damp hands will slide on it.

Get the Amazon Basics 1 Inch only if you can name the reason: concrete underfoot, long kneeling rehab, or joints that complain on thinner padding. For that buyer the inch is genuinely comfortable. For everyone else, the half-inch Amazon Basics or the 8 mm Gruper is the easier compromise.